Harrogate to York

Before setting off today we had a little trip to a fantastic bakery for a lovely waggon wheel shaped delicacy. Lemon and blueberry.

We didn't have far to go as our first stop was in Knaresborough. I remember it from an episode of Landscape artist of the year, and was looking forward to standing on the spot where they set up their painting pods.

We weren't disappointed as it was really beautiful and full of tourists having fun. Lots of them hired rowing boats and were so terrible at it, but we didn't give have a go so I can't say if we'd have been any better.

Then it was on to a disused railway line that ran for miles. The landscape is now almost completely flat, so we are using hardly any battery on our way.

Tonight we are staying at The Grand Hotel in the centre of York and it is very fancy. 

Every other night we wheel our bikes to the hotel reception, check in and then either drag our bikes upstairs up a set of stairs or in the lift. We then usually have to squeeze around things to get in the bed. 

That didn't happen here, and uniformed porters whisked our luggage to our rather large room and took our bikes to a private car park down the road. It was very disconcerting and luxurious, but we don't have to get used to this style of living as it isn't happening again on this trip.

We then decided to enjoy the hotel in style and went for afternoon tea in one of the many restaurants. It was lovely and very classy, but I was rather jealous of the mum and son at the next table who had gone for the Harry Potter Wizard themed tea, complete with test tube drinks and chocolate broomstick shaped cakes.

Finally, we took an evening stroll along the city walls to walk off some of the calories. 

Some might say that was too many cakes in one day, and I forgot to mention the giant 99 at Knaresborough. Perhaps a savoury day tomorrow. 

Day off in Harrogate

Today was a lovely, relaxing sitting around day in Harrogate. Not for Daz though who decided to go for a 16.5 kilometre run around the countryside. He took a few photos on the way, but I am not sad to have missed it.

Perhaps l might regret missing this training session when we run a half marathon in four weeks time, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I went for a little walk around and found the Japanese garden in the famous Valley Gardens.

Later I organised an afternoon stroll where we returned to the Valley Gardens to listen to a local choir sing some very modern hits.

Then a quick selfie and a trip to the Pump Room to find out more about the Victorian craze of taking the waters to cure many illnesses.

The Pump Room was pretty boring and the water smelt really disgusting, so we moved quickly on to the Mercer Art Gallery. It sounded good online, but at the moment they have removed all of the usual paintings and replaced them with a temporary exhibition of the runners up of a modern art competition. The winners were at the Leeds Gallery and instead we got this:-

Two giant pink blow up teardrops which were our favourite item, in fact, the only one that we liked. But we really don't have room in our house to display them. 

Ripon to Harrogate - busy Saturday

 Up and about fairly early and leaving Ripon which was another pretty town, this one with lots of knitted and crocheted creatures.

It was just a quick cycle back the way we came yesterday to Fountains Abbey and the parkrun. A two lap course around the ruined Abbey and it's grounds. In my opinion the most beautiful parkrun course that we have ever visited.

After a nice break in the cafe we set off again. The countryside has changed and is much less hilly, although I made good use of the battery along the way. We stopped briefly to look at Ripley Castle and over the edge of a very high viaduct.

Yet another stop, this time at the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Harlow Carr. It was very noticeable how dry the garden was, and it made me feel a bit better about the state of my own gardens, although it's always a shame to wish for rain.

Finally, a last push down to just outside the Travelodge in Harrogate at 2.24pm. Check in was officially at three, but often hotels let you in a little early. Not this one, although I could pay a fee to do so. Instead we spent it at the pub exactly opposite.

Settle to Ripon

 Another amazing day cycling over the north Yorkshire moors. We did the biggest climb of the whole coast to coast route out of Settle first thing.

I forgot to take any photos of the pretty little town while we were in it, but what we enjoyed most about it was the plant pot figures that were scattered around the place. So I managed to capture a few of them right at the start of the day.

The climb was very steep, but we were strong, and the batteries made it almost a pleasure.

The countryside was beautiful but very bleak. Calm and warm today although I could easily imagine what a nightmare it could be in winter. Right at the top we found a herd of Highland cattle sitting by the side of the road.

On we rode, and we knew that we needed to do nearly 1,400 vertical metres of climbing today. We also knew that our batteries wouldn't last that long, so we set about using them as little as possible and just saving them for the steepest sections.

By lunchtime we had reached the eastern side of the moors and the steepest descent of the whole route.

It went on for a long way and was full of twists and turns. There must have been some big crashes in the past because there was lots of signs on the way down telling cyclists to keep it slow.

Eventually we rolled into Pateley Bridge at the bottom and found a very busy place full of tourists and cafes. We took a tiny detour to a very underwhelming sculpture of local people.

After that we had a couple of slightly embarrassing chats with fellow tourists.

For the first one I was cycling just behind Darren and suddenly I heard another bee buzzing on me. As the sting from two days ago still hurt I panicked and yelled to Darren, but again he didn't hear me and cycled on. Once more I ripped my helmet off and threw it on the ground. The buzzing continued so I ripped my tee shirt off and desperately shook it. Then I heard a car coming round the corner so I tried to get my tee-shirt back on but it was all tangled up, although I got there in the end. The poor man in the car stopped to ask if I was okay although I am not sure if he thought I was a bit mad. Fortunately no bee sting this time. 

The second chat was with a nice Belgian couple who were doing the route in the opposite direction. They were having a great time and loving England and I told them that we loved Belgium too. Also in August we going on a cycling holiday to Holland and Belgium. Of course they asked where, so I looked at Darren and he looked at me. I didn't know where, so Darren said a couple of places and we all went on our way. Daz then said that I had dropped him in it as we weren't going to Belgium at all and he to had had to lie to avoid offending them.

By mid afternoon our batteries were completely exhausted, but by then there was a lot of downhills and we cycled through the grounds of Fountains Abbey to Ripon. 

Day one Morecambe to Settle

 Day one of our PLANNED cycle tour, I am very happy to be here and excited to get going.

Firstly, a little cruise along the seafront to enjoy the beautiful views and the statue of Eric and his chunky seagull friends. 

What a beautiful day, and a great flat start along the side of the estuary to Lancaster, then up into the rolling countryside heading east. 

We spent most of the day skirting the Forest of Bowland, and took a detour up a steep hill to see the Great Stone of Fourstones.

It is a huge boulder that was left behind about 25,000 years ago when the Ice Age melted and carried rocks with it. This one is called an erratic boulder, I think because it is enormous and wouldn't be expected to be where it is.

It is on its own, near the top of a very high hill with no obvious reason to be there. Also, the ancient name of Fourstones indicates that there was also three others at one time, but where are they?

We weren't too concerned about the history, and climbed the uneven steps to the top. We had a quick look at graffiti carved into it from the 1,600s. Just names really, no different from what people do today.

On our way again and back to the route, with fantastic views of Ingleborough in the distance. 

Early afternoon and we reach the sign for the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Quite surprised to reach it so early in our journey as we are on a five day cycle across the Red rose and White rose counties, and we have already done the Red one.

A bit more cycling, up hill and down dale, before a final descent into Settle, our overnight stop.